Sectionalizing cutting machine



July 15, 1952 w. E. URSCHEL. ET AL 2,603,262

SECTIONALIZING CUTTING MACHINE Filed Jan. 29, 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORS yam ZZZ/50k Joe E. Z4750 (56112425 Zfl Z/rs'al y 1952 w. E. URSCHEL ETAL 2,603,262

SECTIONALIZING CUTTING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 29, 1948 INVENTORS fiz fz'ai z Z 42715217261 y 15, 1952 w. E. URSCHEL ETAL 2,603,262

SECTIONALIZING CUTTING MACHINE Filed Jan. 29, 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented July 15, 1 952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE/ sscznonirrzmc CUTTING ACHINE.

William E1 Ur'schel Joe R. Urschelyand Gerald W.

Ursohel, Valparaiso, Ind. J oe R. Urschel ad ministratorofi said William E. Urschel, deceased App ic on maria. 19.48,. SeriaiNo- 5 002:

his ventibn. oncern mach nes i r c n aterialinto discretep ec and ast do mo particularly with a machine adaptedto operate upon a body of material consisting ofsimali fiat n ces such as, ppers, t e peel. of. ci ru ruit boned chicken and the. like for cutting these in. larger fragments. into. smaller frag ent The general object of this invention the pro i ion f. a c ionalizing. cuttin mach ed simplified. form wherein a movableieedingstructurehas av feeding surface. for carrying themate rial to beoperated-upon i to, positiqn. Q in operated. upon by juxtaposed. knives While the materi l jadvanced. t rou h a bisht o med.

between the knives and. such surface, By utijlini such feeding, surface in direct. cooperation.

with the knives. it. is possible to. eliminate an intermediatelsupporting means, which has. been.

heretofore employed for direct cooperation ith.

the knives A further, object is the. pIOVlSlOILQf. afeedine' surface 'asQ-aforesaid, advanceable lengthwise of, a median line thereof and comprising laterally spaced sections extending in parallelism with such line, thespacesbetween the laterally spaced.

sections beingin respective. registry with, the knives of a slitting-.knifebank for receiving 011, 1

like; edge portions thereof to. facilitate precise]. ccnnnlete cuttin of the. material andto further facilitate advancement oi; the. material with the illgf sur -1 -A,. further object is, the provision. o a. S W-i011! imi c t in m chine, eminence f edg ear facetogether with a bank of, slitting knives as.

aforesaid and; whereinthereis alsola compressin roller structure coonerating viththe feeding ..sur-;

face at a position immediately preceding the posi-.

tion at which thefknives are cooperative with the feeding; surface.

on-which th manna s mandated. mm e ish sir n h fe d n e fis he i es mi l in rk a ks hi u ct o o f the compressing roller structureis accomplished. more effectively when such structure is placed; closely to, the slitting kniie bank, and. it

is a further contemplation ofthis invention toconstruct said roller} structure with: a; pluraiit of; circumferential ribs; meshed with the knives the knife bank as an expedient. for decrease ing thedistance-of, the spacing of the roller structureand of the knives lengthwise o f the;i1.edijng v surface.

The compressing roller; structure is cooperable with th j, feeding surface 1 orrm ae. mat. o h l m ie n thereby-increasing the speedgand positiveness.

Still; another object-is the, provision f'a; strip per bar extending-transversely of andadjacently to the slitting-knife bank for cleaningthe surface of any material tending to cling theretoasi the mater lp fr mbe w heikniv sandi po tions the cylindrical. e ing suriacea d the;

bank of; slitting knives that they are. adaptedto receive the material to v.be operated uponffronij a downwa d d cha g ng. opper d snosedabove the commonlocus or the slittingrknife bankvand the portion of the. feeding surface-cooperating therewith.

An additional object is. the. provision ,of a,

sectionalizing cutting machine according tojthe}.

nextprececling object wherein the slitting knives. are of the disk type and therigid cylindrical suitfaceis of considerably larger diameter than thev diameter of said, knives, whereby an appreciable,

area 01 thef eedlng surface faces. upwardly at a. v

position immediately ahead of the knives or registration with the; bottom of a downwar d schar ng-h pper- These and other desirable objects inherent inf and encompassed by the invention will be 'fully understood from theensuing description andthe annexed drawings wherein c Fig. 1 is ii -perspective view looking downwardly",

toward two; sides of a. machineconstituting a preierredembodiment oftheinvention. .w

Fla. 5 a ide. elevational vi w but with the legsof the supporting bench there," forbroken away.

Fig. 3;.is airagmentary perspectivaview ill I I W the, relativepositions; of those-,instr mentalities ofthe machine which cooperater n per t n re y- .1 cessed.

Fig; 41s, a fragmentary sectional viewrshowingf details. of the arrangement of the; feeding. suntrating face, of the slitting-knives cooperab-le with; such surface, a cleaning bar for thesurface; and a...

dicing knife assembly for cutting strips, of the materialcintcshort of. h achine the material" to be, pro-.1

P s e h r mana es fi o r r between therieedingsurface and thezslittingf.

ves.

The general purpose of the machine can be understood by reference to Figs. 2, 3 and 4. The machine is particularly adapted for so-called dicing of thin pieces of material fed thereto in bulk mass. Bulk material such as peppers and orange peels which are to be cut up into small squares for use in the canning industry are readily handled by the present machine. Bulk material of this character is loaded into a hopper ll, Fig. 2, from which it is fed directly through a chute 12 onto a portion of a feeding surface [3 01 a cylindrical feeding structure H at a position immediately ahead of a compressing roller structure l5 with respect to the direction of rotation of the structure l4 as indicated by the arrows in.

Figs. 3 and 4.

The compressing roller structure i5 is supported upon and rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 3 by a shaft l6. Said structure comprises a plurality of axially spaced circumscribing ribs l! which have axially-extending circumferentially-spaced projections IS. The compressing roller structure is spaced slightly from the cylindrical feeding surface l3 to form a bight therewith through which the bulk material is advanceable with said surface l3 incident to being compressed into a fiat mat; This mat of the bulk material as it is discharged from between the compressing roller structure l5 and the feed surface 13 is fed downwardly between a bank of disk slitting knives l9. These knives I9 are carried upon. and rotatable with a shaft 2| in thedirection indicatedby the arrows in Figs.

3 and 4. A plurality of spacing collars 22 are disposed between the slitting knives l9 for spacing these knives apart in a rigid structure wherein the knivesrespectively register with the grooves between theribs 11 of the compressing roller structure.

Such spacing of theknives I9 also corresponds feeding surface portions 23 of the feeding structure I4, and the diameters of the knives are' such that cusp-like peripheral portions 24 project into grooves 25 between the feeding. surface portions 23. f The reference character 29 designates "an imaginary median line extending circumferenti'ally about the cylindrical feeding structure 14 with respect to which the laterally spaced feeding surface portions 23 extend lengthwise. Since the median line 26 extends circumferentially of the cylindrical feeding structure, spaced feeding surface portions 23 are advanced lengthwise of thi sline during operation of the machine. 1 As the compressed 'mat' of material is passed between the feeding structure [4 and thebank of slitting knives [9, such mat of material is cut' into strips having a width corresponding to the axial spacing'of the knives. suitably anchored atits ends, is disposedin wiping relation with, the feeding surface 13 of the feeding structure so that'an upwardly'directed sharpened edge 28 is effective for peeling the strips of the slit material from the feeding-surface l3 into a throat 29 between a face 3| of such bar and an opposed face 32'on' a plate 33 having stripping fingers 34 projecting into spaces between the slitting knives. Stripping fingers 34 prevent the strips of slit material frorn'following around with the knives and thereby complement the stripper bar 21 in directing the strips endwise into the throat 29. As the strips of material issue endwise downwardlythrough the throat they are cut into short pieces bythe cutting edges of blades 35-01 to the spacing of laterally spaced said laterally A stripper bar 21,

eration of the a dicing knife assembly 38 which comprises a blade carrier 31 mounted upon and constrained for rotation with a shaft 38. The rotating speed of the dicing knife structure 36 is predetermined with respect to the peripheral speed of the feeding structure l4 and the corresponding endwise speed of the strips issuing through the throat 29 so that the strips are cut into short pieces of desired length which is ordinarily equal to the width of the strips so that a portion of the ultimately cut pieces will be cubes or fiat squares depending upon the thickness of the discrete pieces within the mat of bulk material. The socalled diced material resulting from the opdicing knife assembly 35 is discharged into a spout 39 which has a downwardly facing discharge opening (not shown) through which the material passed into a receptacle (not shown) which may be slid into place under the bench of the machine.

Considering now the environment for the above-described parts whichv operate directly upon the .material to be cut into pieces, the machine rests upon a bench 4! having legs 42 joined together by crossbars 43 and 44. A pair of parallel bars 45 and 46 extend between a pair of oppositely disposed top crossbars 44 as illustrated in Fig. 1. These bars 45 and 46 provide respective support for side frame members 4l andj48 which have flanges 49 and 50 respectively along their lower edges for resting upon the upper sides of the parallel bars 45 and 46. Bearings (not shown) respectively in the frame members 41 and 48 rotatively support opposite end portions of the shaft 2| which extends through and carries the disk slitting knives. Additional bearings respectively in the frame members 41' and 49 carry respective end portions of the dicing. assembly shaft 38, one of these bearings.

being designated 5| in Figs. 1 and 3. A third pair of axially aligned bearings respectively in the frame members 41 and 48 rotatively carry a shaft '52 upon which the rotatable feeding structure I4 is mounted and with which it is con-' strained for rotation. One of the bearings for the shaft 52 is designated 53 in Fig. 2.

A pair of bearing brackets 54 and 55 are superposed on the frame members 41 and 48. Bear slitting-knife bank. The lower end of the hood' B2 rests upon the upper edge of the discharge chute 39, and outwardly turned flanges 63 on the" side walls of the chute rest upon the parallel bars45and 46 of the bench. 1

Power for driving the machine is derived from a double groove sheave 54 constrained for ro-- tation with the armature shaft 65 of an electric; motor M which is suitably anchoredupon the top of the bench 4!. A pair of V-belts 66 'and 61 which respectively fit in the grooves of-the sheave 64 are also trained about double groove' sheave 68 which is constrained for rotation with the slitting-knife shaft 2|. The slitting-knife shaft 2| thus driven by the sheave 68 drives a gear 69 carried by thisshaft at the opposite side of the machine as shown in Fig; 1. Gear 69 meshes with a larger gear II which is mounted i upon and constrained for rotation with the'cross shaft 52 of the material feeding structure 14. A sprocket 72, Fig. 1, is also constrained for rotation with the slitting-knife shaft 2| and through a chain 13 drives a sprocket 14 which is mounted upon and drives the compressing roller structure shaft 16. Drive for the dicing knife structure 36 is provided by a gear 15 on the slitting-knife shaft 2| and a companion pinion 16 on an end portion of the dicing knife shaft 38.

Material to be operated upon by the machine is placed in a hopper ll having a bottom opening i7 through which the material is fed downwardly into the vertical chute portion 12 of the hopper. The lower end of this chute I2 is open and, as can be seen in Fig. 2, is in vertical registry with the upwardly facing portion of the feeding surface 13 immediately ahead of the compressing roller structure IS with reference to the direction of rotation of the feeding structure 14.

Having thus described a single preferred form of the invention with the view ofv clearly and concisely illustrating the same, we claim:

In a sectionalizing cutting machine, a feeding drum disposed for rotation about a horizontal axis and having its cylindrical surface divided into laterally spaced circumferential feeding sections, a bank of circular axiallyspaced knives rotatable about a horizontal axis in parallelism with and substantially within a horizontal plane,

common to the drum axis, the knife bank being disposed exteriorly of the drum surface, said knives being meshed with said laterally spaced sections and being of substantially less diameter than the drum surface to provide for an upwardly facing portion of the drum surface that slopes downwardly from the uppermost part of the drum to the section meshed with the knives, a circumferentially ribbed pressure roller structure rotatable about a horizontal axis spaced upwardly circumferentially of the drum from the knife bank and rotatable about an axis in parallelism with the drum axis, said pressure roller structure being in close proximity with a part of the upwardly facing portion of the drum adjacently to the knife bank and the ribs of such structure being meshed with the knives, and hopper means disposed above said upwardly facing portion of the drum for depositing compressible bulk material thereon upwardly thereof from the pressure roller structure to cause feeding of the material downwardly between the pressure roller structure and the drum.

WILLIAM E. URSCI-IEL.

JOE R. U'RSCHEL.

GERALD W. URSCHEL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 414,766 Fischer Nov. 12, 1839 453,859 Flickinger et al June 9, 1891 913,485 Farquer Feb. 23, 1909 1,316,026 Gamage Sept. 16, 1919 2,065,239 Mills Dec. 22, 1936 2,131,851 Anstice Oct. 4, 1938 2,223,542 Bauer Dec. 3, 1940 2,242,557 Urschel et a1 May 20, 1941 2,349,212 Urschel et a1 May 16, 1944 2,465,670 Urschel et a1 Mar. 29, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 308,895 Germany Nov. 4, 1918 762,132 France Jan. 18, 1934 595,005 Germany Mar. 27, 1934 

